Film

June 18, 2016

Artists with a focus on the disciplines of short film and video are all painfully familiar with the multitude of challenges they face when publicly exhibiting their work in settings outside the traditional theatre or school/church basement. If they choose to project it on the wall of a gallery or museum and there's no special darkened space available in which to display it, their work can be as washed out as a pair of '80s acid jeans. If they present it on a television or external display, they run the risk of ending up in some back corner so lonely and remote that no one will take notice. If audio is absolutely imperative to the integrity of the piece, it can easily get lost in the sound and fury of an opening reception and/or end up competing with the audio of other works, creating an indiscernible cacophony of aural madness. And the annoying list goes on.

However, there are times when film and video do get their deserved due in glorious grandeur without having to be part of a film festival, and tonight's Temporary Resurfacing II event is one of those times.

Temporary Resurfacing II is the second round of a one-night-only happening that debuted back in September 2014. Like its inaugural, tonight's event entails the projection of short film and video on exterior surfaces of buildings—with some works also presented inside—along two blocks of West Historic Mitchell Street in Milwaukee. Unlike the 2014 exhibition, though, this one actually managed to garner much needed funding support from the Milwaukee Arts Board in the form of a $2500.00 grant as well as a substantial donation of visual/audio equipment use and professional staffing from local production company Majic Productions.

Organized by Milwaukee-based artists Demitra Copoulos, Marla Sanvick and Maeve Jackson, Temporary Resurfacing II features 30 works created by 36 regional, national and international artists who are all—wait for it—getting paid. Well stop the presses and give 'em a hearty WHOOT!

Tonight's exhibition brings back several artists who participated in 2014, including Ted Brusubardis—whose piece Pacel Galvu became one of the best short videos I've experienced in many moons when it was shown in an appropriately darkened room at Portrait Society Gallery earlier this year—Adam Carr, Sara Condo, Cathy Cook, Paul Druecke, Kim Miller, Andrew Swant, Wes Tank, Xav Leplae, and co-organizer Marla Sanvick.

The exhibition runs tonight, Saturday June 18, 2016, from 8:30PM to 12 midnight on West Historic Mitchell Street, between South 11th and South 9th Streets.

Check out the Temporary Resurfacing website for further details and a handy map. On the site you'll also find a Donation tab, which, according to Copoulos, will remain there after the event so you can say Thank You for a presentation of short film and video done big and beautiful, and show your support for future Resurfacings. There will also be a donation station located on 10th and Mitchell during the event.

January 21, 2016

For the intellectually curious and the infinitely patient among you, the results of the survey I recruited y'all to take waaay back in November are now available for download here. Well hot diggity, we can hardly believe it, right? Yup diggity.

As some may recall, the survey was designed to examine the relationship between social media network communication and the development of artistic collaboration. Also, it was created to get me some Stats learnin' credits to apply toward the long-delayed completion of my BA in Comparative Literature. So how did I/you/we do? I/you/we got an A, people, so nice work!

Anyhoo, the results are presented in the standard APA style of a quantitative study. While the prospect of reading an academic paper may sound comparable to the oh-so pleasurable experience of eating sand, this one's not that bad—really, I swear. Plus it's about art and you love art, so there's that.

A sincere and heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated and shared the invitation with others! In the most literal way possible, I could not have done it with you. Hooray for Us!

As most of you have no idea, I was recently accepted back as a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) after a decision of I'll-just-take-a-semester-off somehow turned into I'll-just-take-12-years-off—HA! The goal? To once and for all finish up my degree in Comparative Literature. Shout-out to the Comp Lit Geeks!

Anyhoo, one of the required joys of this educational process is the successful completion of a Stats class—Yuck! While I hold all Masters o' Math in very high regard, working with numerals is not my greatest strength. Happily though, I have been afforded the opportunity to turn Yuck! into Yay! by focusing my individual research on the subject I love best: Art in all its forms.

With that in mind, I have created a survey examining the relationship between social media network communication and the development of artistic collaboration. Interesting, no? Yes!

Artists of any and all disciplines are invited to take part, so if you're one of those CLICK HERE!

And, because I know y'all are curiouser than the curiousest cats on the planet, results will be posted on this here blog once the data analysis is compete.

Rest assured, all of your responses will be kept strictly confidential. No individual participant will ever be identified with his/her answers. Added Bonus: It should only take about 15-20 minutes.

Take the survey now! Also, share this with your artsy friends so they can join in the statistical fun!

June 09, 2015

Many moons ago, in a place we like to call Reality, there was a fair amount of opportunity for intrepid folks to start their own publishing entities and deliver literature and film through three-dimensional objects known as books, VHS tapes and DVDs. Though the road was not smooth by any means, demand was sufficient enough to buoy those who believed their cause just and their goods, well, good. Then the Media Banshees of Doom began to scream that traditional publishing was dead and all must digitally publish or perish. Sadly, many believed this hyperbolic howling to be true and quickly abandoned the old ways entirely, feeding into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

To be sure, the bellowing of the Banshees has not changed over time, remaining consistent in message, frequency and volume. But it is through the exposure to this very constancy that some have achieved acclimation and realized that, like the ambient noise we live with daily and nightly, it can be and often should be ignored if ya wanna stay anywhere near the periphery of sanity. Also, when has heeding the screechy, nearly panicky advice of "experts" ever been a good idea? Never, that's when.

While, certainly, one cannot be a luddite about such matters--I for one loves me all sorts of digital publishing and willingly engage in it myself--but not everyone has access to it nor does everyone want to consume all their information/entertainment that way. There has always been and always will be a beauty to the experience of holding a book, VHS tape or DVD in one's hand. Tangibility is a powerful thing indeed and many of us do not want to see it disappear any time soon.

One such organization that has decided to tune-out the digital-or-bust madness and get on with the work is Urban Anthropology Inc. (UrbAn), a non-profit, community-based membership association. Since 1999, UrbAn's mission has been to raise awareness of and celebrate cultural diversity while developing programs and projects that tackle tough issues common to urban areas, most specifically in and around Milwaukee.

From its very beginnings, UrbAn included the production of creative work--documentaries, plays, etc.--as a means of teaching and demonstrating the very positive benefits and the not-so positive tensions and problems that can arise with cultural diversity. So it only made sense that UrbAn would eventually launch its own publishing arm, which it did back in January of this year.

Dubbed MECAH Publishing--MECAH stands for Milwaukee Ethnic Collection of Arts and Humanities--it aims to produce and distribute literary work and film that speaks to non-academic audiences and highlights the vast and varied mosaic of culture and sub-culture existent in southeast Wisconsin urban centers. And all work is produced and distributed through 3-D objects only, at least for now.

But here's the really big news: MECAH is currently accepting proposals for literary fiction and nonfiction work as well as films/documentaries. Yes, you read that right, so if you're a writer or filmmaker looking for a chance to create a work that both enlightens and entertains, and you can meet the objectives and the guidelines, you need to jump on this!

Now, longtime readers of Cricky's words know that I would never, NEVER blog up an opportunity that didn't have some real compensation component for the artists--I don't and won't waste either my or your precious peeper time on anything that propagates the pernicious practices of some, which are usually expressed through such sentiments as "It'll look good on your resume" or "The exposure alone is priceless." Pure rubbish, people! So you may have every confidence that I have confirmed beyond doubt that authors and filmmakers will receive 50% royalties of the net profits of the product sold. Not too shabby by any standard, folks.

September 11, 2014

Back in January, we blogged up a brand spankin' new web-based project called 365 Artists | 365 Days. Expectations were high that this project would buck the annoying it-was-a-great-idea-but-we-got-distracted-and-crap-canned-it odds and instead keep up the stamina promised to deliver much needed attention to individual artists each and every day.

We are pleased to report that our hopes have not been dashed upon the jagged rocks of a raging sea of frustration, but rather continues to be buoyed by the unwavering commitment of creators/curators Frank Juarez of Frank Juarez Gallery (Sheboygan) and Zina Mussmann and Rachel Quirk of Greymatter Gallery (Milwaukee). Can I get a Whoot? Whoot! Thank you.

As of August 25, 365 Artists | 365 Days has featured artists from 34 States of these United as well as 8 other countries: Canada, Singapore, Scotland, Australia, Slovenia, Serbia, United Kingdom, and Lithuania. It's also clocked 64,710 blog visits, snagged 425 e-mail subscribers and accumulated 1,193 Facebook followers--you become one too here.

Seeing as we're all about highlighting projects that actually keep on keepin' on, we posed three questions to Juarez, Mussmann and Quirk, which they graciously answered in one harmonized voice.

Cricky: Have there been any surprises or unexpected challenges that you encountered during the curatorial process of submissions?

J,M,Q: We've been surprised by the variety of work that artists have submitted. This has been a pleasant surprise because we were a little worried that we'd receive too much of one medium and we'd end up over representing painting-or drawing--or video--or whatever. But the reality has been the opposite. And each artist's overall approach has been quite unique too, which we think has added to the appeal of this project. Our goal from the beginning has been to show the very wide scope that contemporary art forms take, and in meeting that goal we've been really proud to be a part of this project and continue to actively engage our readers.

Cricky: I see that you still have the submission page active. Do you anticipate closing submissions at any point? If so, what is that date?

J,M,Q: We would like to keep the submission page active as we move into 2015.

Cricky: Any plans to continue this another year?

J,M,Q: We have plans to continue this project next year. We're working on the details of what this would look like. This project has been rewarding on many levels. Our featured artists have been enthusiastically promoting their online feature via social media. We all think we're on to something great and would love to explore it further.

And with that final answer you have no excuse whatsoever not to submit your most fabulous work and possibly join the honored ranks of 365 Artists | 365 Days--not even "I'm so terrified I'm not sure I can hold my clicker finger steady enough to hit the submission button." Do It Now!

July 02, 2014

Some of the very best science fiction movies to be birthed from human brainpans have traveled through the painfully low-budget artsy canal that is independent film. The super tripped out David Bowie vehicle The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976), the absolutely phenomenal and nearly-shelved-over-creative-differences Brazil (1985), the mathematician/conspiracy nut favorite Pi (1998), the moody and heavily '80s soundtracked Donnie Darko (2001), and of course eXistenZ (1999), featuring possibly the only notable Jude Law performance outside of I Heart Huckabees (2004). Send any and all angry comments to Law himself, folks, 'cause it ain't my fault.

Anyhoo, missing from that list is the flick most would raise high up on the mantle of must-see-to-be-amazed sci-fi movies, Blade Runner (1982)--an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Since one of the film's production companies was Warner Bros., it doesn't technically count as an independent, but we love it sooo good anyhow.

For fans of sci-fi literature, anything written by the venerable Philip Kindred Dick is bound to make them as giddy as a gaggle of hipsters at a Champagne bar. However, with the exception of the afore mentioned Blade Runner--either theatrical or director's cut--when it comes to film adaptations of Dick's work, the critical claws are sprung open wide and the blood of producers, directors and actors alike are sought for revenge with cat-like speed. Tom Cruise in Minority Report? Really? Reeeally? No.

And so it is that anyone who dare take on the ginormous task of adapting a Philip K. Dick work to film better have two things goin' for 'em: 1) An all-access pass to the local 24/7 blood transfusion bank, and 2) a stellar cast and crew to ensure that pass goes unused.

As is known the world 'round, the fair state of Wisconsin consistently generates brave souls of all disciplines, one of whom is independent film producer Elizabeth Karr, originally of Whitefish Bay. Along with an equally stalwart writer/director named John Alan Simon, Karr recently announced the theatrical release of Radio Free Albemuth (2010), based on--you guessed it!--Philip K. Dickʼs sci-fi novel of the same name.

In the public interest, I dutifully reproduce the plot description from the press release here:

"Called his most prophetic science fiction thriller, Radio Free Albemuth is the story of Nick Brady (Jonathan Scarfe), a record store clerk in Berkeley, who begins to experience strange visions transmitted from an extra-terrestrial source called VALIS. He moves to Los Angeles with his wife, Rachel (Katheryn Winnick), where he becomes a successful music executive with a secret mission. With the help of his best friend, a science-fiction writer--Philip K. Dick himself (Shea Whigham)--and the mysterious Silvia (Alanis Morissette), Nick finds himself drawn into a conspiracy of cosmic proportions."

Transmissions from an extra-terrestrial source! Conspiracy of cosmic proportions! Alanis Morissette acting! This thing has got it all--maybe!

To date, Radio Free Albemuth has won several awards--including Best Film Adaptation at Sci-Fi London International Film Festival 2012--and, honestly, the trailer looks pretty great:

Hmmm? Not too shabby, right? Maybe even better than not too shabby? I thought so.

Okay, so Radio Free Albemut opened on June 27 in ten select cities, none of which were Milwaukee. That's right, you heard me. Not one of the first ten metropolis' to screen this movie in a proper, not-during-a-film-festival theater setting--a movie produced by a human being hailing from a town so close it may as well be in Miltown--was ours.

How, you may ask, can we remedy this sad case of a missed connection between what promises to be an intelligent, deep and independent sci-fi film and what has often proved to be a brilliant, insightful and free-thinking audience inhabiting the Greater Milwaukee area? Thanks to Karr and the good people at City Beast Studio, all can be put right by you simply clickin' on over to Tugg and pre-ordering tickets for a screening and Q&A session penciled in for Monday, July 14, at the Landmark Downer Theater. As of right now, just over 50 tickets remain to be sold to make this Big Screen Date Night happen and they must be purchased by Monday, July 7.

Well? What in the name of Philip K. Dick are ya waitin' for? Do it now!

March 31, 2014

For a particular set of sensitive souls who call these United States home, it can be a tad disheartening to live in a country that indisputably values something called "sports" more than something called "art." And while a large percentage of the population will be focused this weekend on what has become the yearly exhibition of collective lunacy known as the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, the Wisconsin Arts Board (WAB) has decided to step up to the line--yeah, you heard me--for those who self-identify as hardcore art fans by presenting its 2014 Final Four Town Meetings. And the crowd goes wild! Whoo-hoo! Yeah! WAB! WAB! WAB! Okay, that's enough.

Just in case you're attention has recently been pinpointed on trying to mentally encourage spring to hurry the hell up and get here, WAB has been holding these Town Meetings all over the state, talkin' to art fans of all disciplines and gettin' their ideas for what they'd like to see included in the Arts Board's 2015-2017 Strategic Plan. Ooh, pinch me, right? Yeah, go ahead 'cause this is for real, kids.

The bulk of these gatherings have already taken place, however--and here's what's really exciting--the first two of the Final Four Town Meetings have been organized to, as WAB Executive Director George T. Tzougros put it, "ensure that we hear the voices of Milwaukee’s communities of color and those who are younger than thirty." Well, all right and thank you, WAB!

WAB's Final Four Town Meetings Schedule:Thursday, April 312:30-2:30PMThe Martin Luther King Center1531 W. Vliet St., Milwaukee

Thursday, April 35-6:30PMArt Bar722 East Burleigh St, Milwaukee

Monday, April 712-1:30PMOneida Community Education Center2632 South Packerland, Green Bay

Everyone--and I mean everyone--is invited to show up, stand up and speak up as Tzougros and Karen Goeschko, Assistant Director for Programs & Services, lead the discussion and open the floor to your input in preparation for the final plan presentation to the full Arts Board in May. Added reason to participate: Not only can your insights influence WAB's work over the next three years, it can also impact the success of the Arts Board's partnership grant with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), so that's a big deal, folks.

Okay then, grab your favorite hardcore art fan foam finger and get ready to share ideas in a respectful manner at one or more of WAB's Final Four Town Meetings!

January 22, 2014

Art Newsflash: Getting Your Work Noticed By Other Human Beings Who Are Not Your Relatives/Friends Is Tough. The most appropriate mental and verbal response to this should of course be laced with biting sarcasm, accurately reflecting your distain for such an unnecessary and obvious statement--perhaps something like, "Well, stop the presses 'cause we had no idea!" or, "Thank heavens you've interrupted my busy day with this critical information, making me aware of something I've known my entire artistic life!" And then we laugh.

As obvious as the statement is, it does serve as a useful springboard to the introduction of one attention-grabbing virtual avenue currently available that can help bring your art to the forefront. See what I did there? Course ya do.

Entitled 365 Artists | 365 Days, the project operates exactly in the manner that the name implies. There are 365 days in a non-leap year and the project will highlight the work of one artist per every single non-leap day on the Interwebs. Hooray for us!

Created and curated by three Wisconsin-based artists/gallery owners, Frank Juarez of Frank Juarez Gallery--naturally--in Sheboygan and Zina Mussmann and Rachel Quirk of Greymatter Gallery in Milwaukee, the 365 Artists | 365 Days project aims to buoy individual artists up through the veritably bottomless artsy sea so they can get a bit more breathing time at the surface, where folks who like and hopefully buy art will take notice.

As Mussmann explained to me in a recent email:

"We are reviewing painting, sculpture, video, installation, drawing, performance and everything in between. The goal of 365 Artists 365 Days is to present to a diverse collection of art that is being produced at the national and international level. Our goal is to engage the public with a wide array of creative processes and ideas about art.

To date, we have accepted 100 submissions… [and] we are accepting submissions on an ongoing basis. When we get close to 365 artists, we will probably set a deadline for submitting to the project."

Only 100 submissions accepted thus far? Well that can only mean one thing: This ain't no easy peasy, give-everybody-a-gold-star-for-participation project, this is serious business. And since Mussmann informed me that they've received submissions from the not only the U.S. but also the U.K., Italy, Russia, Poland and Canada, you'll definitely have to bring your best o' the best to gain admittance to this 365-day party.

Okay, so if ya think you're up for the challenge--and we all know ya are--click on over to the 365 Artists | 365 Days website to learn how to submit.

For those of you who just like to watch, you can sign-up to follow along via email.

I have it on the highest authority that this project may not be repeated next year, so don't dawdle, kids!

November 27, 2013

There's something fantastical that I've learned over the past five years, which is that readers of this here bloggity blog--yes, you!--are a veritable fountain of knowledge, willing to spew the life-giving moistness of enlightenment into the dry air of ignorance at any moment. I've also learned that if ya don't know somethin' you'll do whatever it takes to find out everything you can about it, thereby increasing the overall volume of your liquid wisdom stream. Um, okay, that came out a little funny, but ya get the point.

Raise your hand if you know of man named General Tadeusz (Thaddeus) Kosciuszko. Uh-huh, I see a few tiny paws going up tentatively, which means either ya think ya know or ya absolutely know but you're still working with your therapist on overcoming the traumatizing lie that being a history nerd is so not cool. Don't worry, you'll get there.

Some of you may recognize the General's name from a post waaay back in July of 2012, when we blogged up an historically significant play produced by Urban Anthropology Inc. called The March to Kosciuszko. For those who can't quite recall, Kosciuszko was a Polish-born engineering hero of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), who later returned to his native land to win freedom for his own people. He was also a progressive thinker well ahead his time when it came to his belief in the abolishment of slavery--a conviction that prompted him to leave the money from his U.S. estate to buy freedom for slaves, provide them with education and purchase land. In short, he was an all-round righteous cat.

Given his undeniablely noble character, Milwaukee's Polish immigrant community commissioned Italian sculptor Gaetano Trentanove to create a bronze monument in the General's likeness--boldly astride a powerful horse, of course--erecting the finished piece high atop a grand granite pedestal in a park named after Kosciuszko on the city's south side in 1905. And there he posed in suspended animation for 108 years--only once being moved across the park in 1951--bravely enduring all kinds of weather--including yummy acid rain--until it was plain to see that the hero and his steed could use a bit o' TLC.

Enter the Milwaukee Polish Women's Cultural Club and the Kosciuszko Monument Committee, who led the charge in raising over $300,000 from the community for the restoration of the monument and save the day! And so they did, contracting with McKay Lodge Conservation Laboratory Inc. in Oberlin, OH, to return Kosciuszko and his trusty equine back to their former glory and bring 'em back home all shiny and bright for a rededication that took place on November 11.

The End. Wait, no, I mean Not The End At All So Keep On Readin'!

To add a happy twist to our tale, the fine folks at Milwaukee Public Television (MPTV) decided that it would be an awesome idea to not only document the monument's restoration process but to also tell the thrilling story of General Tadeusz Kosciuszko so all may learn and know. Hooray!

The funds we raise will be used to support the cost of bringing the project to air. As you can imagine, producing a half hour documentary is a costly venture and although we were able to raise funds to support this project, there was a gap between our costs and the money we raised. Any funds that the crowd funding effort raises will be used to close the gap. If we are able to raise all the funds necessary to support the cost of our Kosciuszko Project, it allows us to do more documentaries of local interest in the future. Conversely, any shortfall, potentially jeopardizes future productions.

Holy HUGE opportunity for us all to give and get! Also, it's Thanksgiving time, folks, and a donation to this worthy project further proves you're a smart freedom-lover who knows that the only native Americans are, well, Native Americans and everybody else who helped win the Revolutionary victory over tyranny was from somewhere else, including Kosciuszko, so we need to give credit and thanks where it's due.

November 15, 2013

Regardless of topic, length or budget, all documentaries worth making and watching have one common purpose: Revelation of truth. While some are intimate portraits that can be effectively presented as a largely one-dimensional truth, others demand much more--more complexity, more research, more ambition--in order to bring to the screen, in as much as humanly possible, the whole truth.

Achieving this level of nonfictional completeness, however, is a daunting task that can make any film crew pause for a beat or three, with each individual staring glassy-eyed into a overwhelming vortex of challenges and uncertainties before shaking their heads clear and fearlessly exclaiming, "Let's do it!"

As we speak/read, just such an intrepid and committed group is currently planning, plotting and shooting a long dreamed of feature length documentary on the history of African-American art and culture in Milwaukee. And this film includes an element that many documentarians of the olden days would give, at the very least, their most treasured and accurate light meter to have: Access to folks who actually lived through the time period and events being explored.

Focused on the years 1967-1979--or what we like to call the keep-on-truckin'-'cause-the-alternative-is-way-worse years--the driving force behind this yet untitled project is the always daring Della Wells, visual artist and Founder/President of African American Artists Beginning to Educate Americans About African American Art (ABEA). Joining Wells are filmmaker/director Rubin Whitmore II and visual artist/ABEA Vice President Mutope J. Johnson, both credited as producers, as well as photographer/new media artist Christopher McIntyre (a.k.a. C.M.P.) and communications specialist/master's degree candidate Stephanie Comer serving as associate producers. All are native Milwaukeeans with a strong desire to have this critically important history told and told right.

Though it's extremely early in the production process, the crew very generously agreed to sit down with me to discuss the impetus and vision for the documentary. But before we get to that, let's start with a little history/geography lesson--ya know, just to get us all up to cruising speed and avoid any pit stops along the way.

Prior to World War II (1939-1945), Wisconsin's African-American population was extremely small, with less than 3,000 recorded in the 1910 Census. Between 1940 and 1960, however, African-American migration from Southern and other U.S. states to Wisconsin jumped dramatically. Due to its industrial economy, Milwaukee became the biggest settling point in the state for African-Americans, but these new residents faced harsh discrimination and segregation in all aspects of life and the majority ended up living in a specific area of the city, which became known as Bronzville.

Despite the injustices, Bronzeville became a vibrant cultural and economic community, with art and music taking center stage. That is until the nationwide, neighborhood-wrecking, freeway-building craze of the 1950s and 60s came to town and slashed it right through the heart, physically and psychologically dividing what was once a tightly bound community. [Read Mutope J. Johnson's piece Bronzeville: The old heart of Milwaukee’s African America could beat again for further intel.]

Just as the non-violent Civil Rights Movement started to splinter, Bronzville began to fall into decline and a race riot broke out on July 30, 1967. The National Guard was called in and tanks rolled down the streets, leaving four people dead, 100 injured and over 1,700 arrested.

And so it is that this documentary is set to begin during that volatile year, with some trips back in time to ground us 'cause learning about a specific time period sans historical context is not learning at all.

Okay, you ready to keep rollin'? If ya need a break, take it now 'cause we aren't stoppin' again and we don't supply crib notes--those are for cheaters and you ain't no cheater!

According to Della Wells, the main focus of the film will be on four organizations that were key supporters of and venues for African-American art during that period: Gallery Towards the Black Aesthetics, De' Gallery, Milwaukee Inner City Arts Council, and the Martin Luther King Library.

During our conversation, Wells talked about her reasons for wanting to bring this documentary to the screen. She first shared some of her own history, speaking volumes about the staggering lack of awareness of African-American art, a legacy that we still suffer from today:

I was at the Gallery Towards the Black Aesthetics for about two years. I must've been 18, 19, 20... I was very young, and actually the Gallery introduced me to African-American artists for the first time and also introduced me to women artists for the first time. Prior to that I didn't really think about it. I just assumed all white men just made art. And then I thought, "Oh, black men can make art." And then I saw women and said, "Oh, women can make art. I guess everybody makes art." But that was a new experience.

This [documentary] is something that I've always wanted to do, and one of the reasons I wanted to do this is... a lot of people have misconceptions about African-American art in general and they have misconceptions about the development of the arts in Milwaukee.

I wanted to look at the Black Arts Movement and [how] the Black Power Movement influenced it. I also wanted to look at the Civil Rights Movement. At that particular time some of the artists that we know now were teenagers and in their twenties and then there was another group that may have been 10-15 years older... so a lot of the artists, even in the Wisconsin 30 show [at the Milwaukee Art Museum], came out of that period. Mutope Johnson had said something that I think is true that, if you really think about, this particular group, who are basically Boomers, they were basically their own role models... but also role models for the tail end of the Boomer generation, so this is a very crucial moment.

I spoke to Johnson on the phone a few days later as he could not attend our meeting. He told me that, like Wells, there was very little information about African-American art available to him when he was young, adding that one of main reasons for this project is to reach back and recognize the artists who have influenced and set the tone for artists working today.

Thus far, the crew has interviewed roughly seven people--including visual artists Evelyn Terry and Akinshiju (a.k.a. Edward Miller/Bubbles), storyteller/poet/visual artist Tejumola F. Ologboni, vocalist Adekola Adedapo, and historian John Gurda--and they hope to film many more artists, curators, politicians, and civic leaders who were around at the time to achieve a well-rounded, in-depth feature.

As filmmaker/director Rubin Whitmore II stated:

The whole goal [of this documentary] is to make sure we get a real slice of what was going on so that the story's balanced and accurate because typically it's the artist's voice or the black artist's voice that's not always heard. All the other people that were involved are always heard, but they need to be heard as a part of the balancing of the process, so it would be very lopsided if you didn't try to figure out what other circles were doing and saying at that time.

The group is preparing to seek funding through several avenues, though that information is highly and understandably classified for the time being, so shhhhh!

The aspiration for the screening of the finished documentary is as ambitious as the work itself. From museums to galleries, community centers to schools, film festivals to possibly even public television--you listening MPTV and PBS?--they want everyone to see this film.

Now that we know what a fantastic and significant documentary this is going to be, we have no doubt that this crew will make it happen, right people? Right on!